EasyJet sees summer return to pre-COVID bookings

LONDON — British airline EasyJet on Tuesday forecast its flight bookings to return to pre-COVID levels this summer, guiding it towards a lower-than-expected loss.

The aviation sector was ravaged by the coronavirus crisis as authorities rushed to contain the outbreak, but demand is now recovering after travel curbs were lifted.

"Since travel restrictions were removed, EasyJet has seen a strong recovery in trading which has been sustained," the company’s Chief Executive Johan Lundgren said in a trading update.

That resulted "in a positive outlook for Easter and beyond, with daily booking volumes for summer currently tracking ahead of those at the same time in 2019".

"We remain confident in our plans which will see us reaching near 2019 flying levels for this summer and emerge as one of the winners in the recovery," he added. 

The group will however remain in the red in the first half owing to lingering COVID fallout.

The company now expects a pre-tax loss of between £535 million and £565 million ($697 million and $736 million, 640 million euros and 676 million euros) in the six months to March from a year earlier.

That marked a significant improvement from the prior loss range of between £690 million and £730 million.